


What We Could Become

by LibbyWeasley



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 2x10, F/M, First Kiss, Fitz POV, Mutual Pining, Season 2, What They Become, missing moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21723694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyWeasley/pseuds/LibbyWeasley
Summary: A missing moment during the earthquake in Puerto Rico. 2x10 What They Become
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 24
Kudos: 64





	What We Could Become

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to @blancasplayground for all of her help (including the screencap of the hug!).
> 
> I was watching this episode again and that hug is just so awkward, but you know in the moment Fitz just wanted to protect her. So here is what could have (should have?) happened.

Fitz stared into the dark hole gaping at this feet while he rubbed his hand, trying to ease the tension in his muscles. Trip had been gone too long. They’d all been gone too long. This was his least favorite part of the job. The waiting. The wondering. The time when he just felt useless, not knowing if there was something he could do. Mack might be gone forever. Skye, Coulson, and Trip were all down there still, chasing after Raina, and all he could do was wait and hope.

He glanced over at Jemma — he always thought of her as Jemma now. He figured he deserved that after confessing his love for her and then losing her forever. In his mind, at least, it provided some sort of cosmic balance. 

But she was here, by his side once again. She was only pretending to be busy, looking at the tablet gripped tightly in her hands and swiping her finger over the screen from time to time. 

So he went back to pacing, edging closer to Jemma with each pass. No matter how much his mind told him to keep his distance, his heart needed to be near her. 

She exhaled, the sound so unexpected in the charged silence that he could almost feel the effort behind it. 

“Alright, ah, Simmons?”

She looked up, meeting his gaze before looking away again. He’d been uncomfortable around her ever since that day in the pod. He’d been doubting himself, doubting that he meant anything to her...doubting that he ever had. But he could see now that was ridiculous. They had always been friends. It had only become uncomfortable when things had started to change. 

His feelings were still there, but now he could feel them knowing that not all change was bad. Jemma was back. She might have run from him, but she hadn’t abandoned him for good. And their professional relationship at least seemed like it might still be intact. Their minds had been working in sync again earlier and she had provided the words when he couldn’t find them. They were a team. They were FitzSimmons. That was something. 

It was still uncomfortable, especially since he had no idea what she was thinking most of the time these days, but now he felt the tension in a different way. In a way that made him think he wasn’t in this alone. 

“Simmons?” he prodded her again. She was giving him one of those looks he couldn’t quite decipher. The kind that made his heart beat a little faster. He was glad she couldn’t tell just by looking at him because it would probably earn him a biology lecture. But he didn’t need that to know what it was he felt. It was hope. 

“I’m fine.” She shrugged her shoulders and his eyes followed the motion. “Just worried about our friends is all. You’d think I’d be used to that by now.”

“You aren’t the kind of person who doesn’t care.” His voice was a little thick, emotion close to the surface. 

Jemma tilted her head and wrinkled her nose the slightest bit. “Neither are you.”

Her tone was even, but he felt like there might be a deeper meaning behind her words that she wanted him to pick up on. He knew they were rubbish at communicating, but searching for hidden messages in her words might be a new low. Maybe it was time to clear the air once and for all. He stopped his pacing, less than an arm’s reach from her, searching her face for answers. 

“Jemma, I —“

The ground beneath them started shaking. Bloody hell. Had Trip not made it in time? 

His eyes met Jemma’s for a split second, and he saw the fear there. He reached for her, pulling her close. Her arms were trapped between them and she didn’t return his embrace, but she didn’t pull away. That was something. He knew they weren’t at the same place. He’d had a lot more time to figure out how he felt. His feelings weren’t going to change. And if they were in danger he wanted to be her shield. 

He’d try to protect her every time. Or die trying. 

He wrapped his body around hers the best he could, bracing against whatever would happen next. But the shaking continued, dust falling around them as rock crumbled. This wasn’t a charge blowing. It was something else. 

“Is that...an earthquake?” Jemma asked, her voice quiet. She hadn’t tried to pull away and he thought she had actually pressed more tightly against him. 

Nothing like almost dying to bring them closer — as long as he didn’t mention his feelings. 

“F-feels like it, yeah.”

Jemma shifted and he relaxed his grip on her so she could move away, but she didn’t. Instead she turned to face him, his arms loosely around her back. As she turned, her hands came up, resting near his shoulders and awareness of her touch burned through him. He couldn’t tell if she was doing it on purpose, acknowledging the moment, or just reverting back to a level of comfort they used to have around each other. But it didn’t matter. Either way was a step in the right direction, towards the friendship they used to have or towards something else entirely. 

“Do you think the tunnels can handle the stress of an earthquake?”

It was hard to think with her looking at him like that. But he managed. 

“Should be able to. They get earthquakes here, ah, frequently.”

“Of course.” She smiled. That small smile that seemed to be full of secrets. The one he didn’t understand. After so many years he had thought he knew all of her expressions, but this one was new. It might be something she picked up when she was undercover, but he hoped not. 

He hoped it was a sign of what they could become. If they were brave enough. 

The shaking intensified and he pulled her close once again. This time he could feel her clinging to him, and he briefly wondered if the tunnels might collapse after all as rocks fell around them. If this was the end, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. 

Jemma took a deep breath and Fitz pushed her back, hands on her shoulders, just enough to study her face. Her eyes were closed, lashes dark against her pale skin. And then his gaze landed on her lips. They hadn’t been this close in a long time, not since they’d been trapped in that pod.

Then her lips were on his. He hadn’t been expecting it. Wouldn’t have had time to react even if he had. Her lips were soft and gentle, barely touching his. A sweet first kiss so incongruous with the intensity of the situation they were in. Leave it to Jemma to manage to confuse him with something as simple as a kiss. Then she ended it but didn’t move away, tucking her head against his shoulder and holding him close as they waited for the inevitable. 

The shaking stopped.

But they didn’t move, frozen in the moment.

He felt his heart beating and his breath coming quickly. And somehow she was still in his arms, warm and comforting, even though their world wasn’t ending. 

She had kissed him. 

It wasn’t until they heard voices that Jemma moved away, quickly reaching for the tablet again, like nothing had happened. But something had changed. Something had shifted. They might add this to the long list of conversations they would never have, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened. 

Fitz followed her example, but he didn’t miss the looks she kept sending his way, or the way she had closed the distance between them. The metaphorical distance between them, that divide they couldn’t bridge, had been mirrored in their physical distance. But now their world had narrowed a little bit, back to something more familiar. He thought he understood the significance.

He could be patient. Whatever was between them wasn’t going away. If he hadn’t been sure he was about to die, he wouldn’t have been ready to talk about it. Maybe he still wasn’t. It wasn’t like he was insisting they talk about what just happened either. Maybe she wanted to keep it to herself for the same reasons he did. As long as it remained unspoken, that kiss could mean whatever each of them thought it did and they didn’t have to deal with the pesky problem of determining if it meant the same thing to both of them. 

But he could still feel her in his arms and taste her kiss. And maybe the next time they thought they might die she’d say “I love you.” Or maybe he should say the words. Something she couldn’t ignore. Feeling like you were going to die made you do things you would never do. Like tell your best friend you were in love with her without worrying about what that might mean for your relationship. Maybe they were right to ignore that kiss. 

He glanced over at her again just in time for her to look away, a blush staining her cheeks. He really wanted to know what she was thinking. But for now it was enough that she was thinking about him. They could figure out the rest later.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me on Tumblr @LibbyWeasley


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